T.Pettinger wins Redmon CC 25 mile TT

Tejvan Pettinger of Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team, continued his good run of form to win the Redmon CC 25 mile time trial in a new personal best of 49.11. With good weather conditions helping times, Tejvan posted a second consecutive 30mph + ride, averaging 30.5mph over the lumpy Bentley course in Hampshire.

Tejvan with Pat Wright Memorial Trophy, presented by Redmon CC after the race.

Tejvan said of the race.

"It was a very good day for time trials, with low air pressure and low wind, but it was still a little bit of a surprise to set a new personal best because this is not the quickest course. My previous best time on this course was 50.49 in 2011, so it is quite a big improvement. I have been training quite hard for long distances, but it seems to help these shorter races too. Setting a personal best is always a big goal in time trials, and my 25 pb was set five years ago."

Race report at CTT

Stats of race

1st 10 miles – 19.45 – 30.4 mph – 337 watts
2nd 10 miles – 20.11 – 29.7 mph – 333 watts
last 5 miles – 9.24 – 32.3 mph – 326 watts

Time: 49.11 (pb)
cadence: 92
Av power 334 watts (5.4 watts/kg)
Av speed: 30.5mph / 49.1 km/h

History of Tejvan's personal best for 25 mile time trial

Time - course - date

1.00:52 – A41 – 13/06/2004
57:09 – H25/1 – 14/08/2004
55.37 – H25/17 – 24/04/2005
55:19 – H25/17 – 16/05/2005
54.00 – R25/3 – 05/06/2005
53.58 – H25/1 – 8/07/2005
53.41 – H25/1 – 13/07/2005
52.57 – H25/1 – 24/09/2005
52:49 – H25/8 – 19/09/2010
50.46 – H25/8 – 30/07/2011
49.33 – R25/3 – 13/08/2011
49.11 – H25/8 – 12/06/2016

Cross-posted from cycling.srichinmoyraces.org

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About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

After 33 years at Palmer Street, the successful running shop Run and Become has moved to a new location in the heart of Victoria, London. To celebrate the move to Ecclestone Street, many customers, suppliers and long-time supporters were invited to an evening function to mark the occasion. In addition, Ashrita Furman, the world’s most prolific Guinness World Record holder record, came over from New York to attempt a new Guinness World Record.

Run and Become was founded in 1982, by Ongkar and Vinodini Smith - after their spiritual Teacher Sri Chinmoy suggested they open an enterprise for sporting goods. 1982 was one year after the first London marathon and, in those years, running was very much a minority sport - with no specialist running shop retailers. Over the past 33 years, Run and Become has played an important role in the London and British running community - serving runners with independent service and advice.

Run and Become, also have branches in Edinburgh and Cardiff.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the current manager, Shankara Smith spoke about the aims of Run and Become, and how it is inspired by the philosophy of Sri Chinmoy. Sri Chinmoy himself was a keen runner, completing many marathons and ultra-marathons during his running career. Sri Chinmoy also taught how meditation and the philosophy of self-transcendence could play a beneficial role in helping the outer running. Throughout the store, there are several photos of Sri Chinmoy, including photos of meeting great running heroes, such as Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis.

Don Ritche, Sri Chinmoy, and founder Ongkar Tony Smith from 1982.

The new store

The new store is set on Ecclestone Street, just off Buckingham Palace road - and a few minutes from Victoria train station. A team of talented architects from Czech Sri Chinmoy Centres have helped create a beautiful, light and spacious environment to display the running shoes and clothes.

Within the store, there is also a mini running track - ideal for testing out spikes and running shoes. All shop assistants have been carefully trained to help customers find the best running shoes for their needs. In the downstairs floor, the store will also hold related workshops and personal physiotherapy services for runners seeking to prevent and deal with injuries.

Guinness World Record Attempt

Ashrita Furman sets new Guinness record for flipping egss in a glass, using only breath!

Ashrita Furman sought to break the Guinness World Record for blowing over the most number of eggs in a cup, in a minute. Ashrita was on great form, blowing over 61 eggs within a minute. (the record is yet to be confirmed by Guinness)

After Ashrita’s successful record attempt, those spectating had a go for themselves - learning that it was much more difficult than it looked. Some, including the author of this article, took a good few minutes before successfully flipping over one egg.

Run and Become photos

Welcome

Run and Become

Your Running Goal?

Run and Become
Become and run.

Run to succeed
in the outer world.

Become to proceed
in the inner world.

- Sri Chinmoy

Dipika and Shakara Smith.

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A Corinthian Endeavour by Paul Jones tells the story of the UK National hill climb Championship from 1944 to 2014. The championship holds a unique place in the UK cycling calendar, always being held in the last weekend in October, marking the end of the domestic time trial season. It is a race that has, over the years, attracted some of the top professionals, such as Tour de France riders like Chris Boardman, Brian Robinson, and Malcolm Elliot - but also a breed of specialist hill climbers, such as Granville Sydney and Jim Henderson - riders who are ideally built for racing up steep hills.

In this book, the author Paul Jones, takes us on a humorous and informed journey through the diverse and sometimes quirky nature of the British hill climb season. As the title suggests, Jones is also interested in the amateur ethos and the fact that the race embodies some of the finest qualities of cycle racing.

For the uninitiated, Jones explains some of the fascinating aspects which go into a successful hill climber - a high power to weigh ratio, an ability to do repetitive, lung bursting hill climb intervals, meticulous attention to stripping weight from his bike, and the ability to ride at the very limit of physical and mental endurance.

The Stang

Within the book, Jones devotes a chapter to Sri Chinmoy Cycling Team rider, Tejvan Pettinger. Pettinger won the event in 2013 - after ten years of trying and near misses. Jones examines those 10 years of near misses that characterised Tejvan’s previous attempts to win the title, but also has a look at the spiritual aspect of Tejvan’s cycling.

Writing in the book:

“And yet, there is another layer of spirituality to Pettinger. He doesn't hide it, it's emblazoned across the jersey of the 'club' he rides for, Sri Chinmoy CC (sic):” “p253

Quoting Pettinger in the book, he says:

“The spiritual life has to come first, but fortunately, cycling is very complimentary. (though) I never race on wednesday evenings because of meditation. I could never be a professional.”

“I’m not the kind of person who needs to win for my self-esteem. I just enjoy cycling and I enjoy cycling hard. The motivation to try to win the championship - it's more than an ego thing, it's an opportunity to achieve something; there is an inner element to it. Sri Chinmoy's philosophy is that a big thing is self-transcendence, trying to go beyond your limits, spiritually, mentally, physically. Trying to go faster is part of spirituality, of meditation. If you can be happy, in a good consciousness, you can bring a lot of energy to the fore. When you're abut to race it can be easy to be nervous or think about your competitors. That's an important challenge: to be in a better consciousness." p.254

Talking about the mental aspect of racing:

"Often when I'm doing a race," he says, "I'm trying to keep my mind quiet and not think. To help that I repeat a mantra, like 'Supreme'. It's just a mantra I use in meditation. I don't want any thoughts going through my mind, only the mantra, inwardly. The best experience is when you're in the zone, you've not got that 'did I go off too hard, too early, that spectator's looking at me funny.' You're absorbed in the effort. That's the real buzz of hill climbs; you can get into this state which you very rarely get into; you're so beyond the limit, you're way beyond your ordinary experience and it has some parallels to meditation, because in meditation you're trying to get away from your mind and the thought, everyday world, and here you're doing it in a very real way because you're pushing yourself so much. And it's torture physically, but you get some kind of joy from it, and you look back and you think, 'Wow, that was a real three minutes. I really lived in that three minutes. I don't quite know what went on but I was on the edge and experiencing something different.'

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